Bayou Blue man uses his brand of rodeos to put stamp on communities

MIKE VINNINGCorrespondent

Thursday

Jun 19, 2008 at 4:20 PMJun 19, 2008 at 4:23 PM

Bayou Blue native Ronnie Triche, owner of Rockin R Rodeo which he started in 2002, has turned a cattle-breeding operation into a working rodeo that’s known for raising money for local charities benefiting children.

History has shown cowboys and wranglers as heroes during the time of the Old West in the 19th century, but Terrebonne and Lafourche Parish has its own “cowboy” hero … or rodeo hero as he is known in some circles.

Bayou Blue native Ronnie Triche, owner of Rockin R Rodeo which he started in 2002, has turned a cattle-breeding operation into a working rodeo that’s known for raising money for local charities benefiting children.

Despite rising costs associated with operating a rodeo, Triche and the organizations he represents always finds a way to lend a financial hand to many different community organizations such as Terrebonne Association for Retarded Citizens, Free to Dream in Raceland, Terrebonne Parish 4-H and FFA student organizations and Friends of the Center in Cut Off.

“Different organizations I belonged to were looking for ways to work together with other organizations to help raise awareness,” he said. “There’s just something you feel for these kids once you spend some time around them. You thank God every day that you are able to do what you can do. It’s kind of hard to put into words, but it’s a good feeling. I am definitely grateful.”

This led to a four-year partnership with TARC, where a percentage of all Rockin R Rodeo proceeds were donated to the association.

“At the end of each rodeo we always present a check to a TARC representative and a group of their kids,” Triche said. “It has been a real pleasure working with them over the years.”

Triche also provides animals to the Free to Dream Therapeutic Riding center in Raceland.

“Horseback riding is good for their muscles and what not,” he said.

The Central Lafourche High School graduate has a long history in the cattle and rodeo business. His family always raised cattle, so it wasn’t long before Triche followed the same path.

Lloyd Triche bought his first head of cattle the same year Ronnie was born, 1975.

“I guess you could say that I was raised on raising cattle,” the 33-year-old said.

Triche said while his father had a full-time job with Tenneco, an oil-field company, for 33 years, raising and breeding cattle on the side was his father’s passion.

“My dad had a fourth-grade education but was probably one of the smartest men I’ve ever known,” Triche said.

He said while there’s a lot of personal reward associated with watching herds grow, it’s also a lot of hard and time-consuming work. Triche said he could remember many times working with the herd on his birthdays.

“For years my birthday … ended up being another day on the ranch,” he said.

While most kids’ chores consisted of taking out the trash and cleaning their room, Triche spent his afternoons and summer days caring for horses and putting out hay.

“I never felt expected to carry on the family business, but they always asked for my help and I was always there,” he said. “It was a chore I had to do. I probably wanted to play sports a little more, but I liked what I was doing so I didn’t complain much.”

It wasn’t long before Triche’s tiring days in the barn and fields turned into a love for the business and a foothold on his career.

When most high-schoolers are thinking about hanging out with friends Triche, at 15, turned his competitiveness loose on the rodeo circuit.

“Once I started meeting people through roping contests, I began traveling and roping for the United States Team Roping Championship (USTRC),” Triche said.

Three years later, Triche said he would meet a friend, Mississippi native Tim Jefcoat, that changed his life.

“He was a little older and became a real good friend and a mentor to me,” said Triche about the man he has remained pals with for more than 15 years.

The pair competed from Oklahoma to Florida, but never got to the mountaintop of their respective sports.

“We never won, but that didn’t bother us,” Triche said.

After competing in rodeos for much of the ‘90s, it wasn’t until 1999 that Triche settled down and landed in the family business working cattle.

Triche has worked with cattle from Morgan City to north of Lake Pontchartrain and as far south as Golden Meadow.

“I guess that’s the year I actually became a cowboy,” Triche said.

He said it was working with area herds that helped him transition into cattle farming. Triche said in 2002 he purchased his first head of cattle.

He said the initial purchase grew to him owning 150 cows, which later put his stamp on the rodeo organizing business.

Triche admits that this is where the similarities with him and his family’s business began to change. While his family was strictly in the cattle-breeding business, Triche was getting more into purchasing cattle and bulls for rodeo purposes.

Before long Triche would grow his business by providing livestock for rodeos across the southeastern U.S.

“About 10 years ago I started providing the roping steers for local rodeos, which grew to include many non-local shows as well,” he said.

In the early part of the decade Triche said he was receiving pressure from friends and family who wanted to try their hand at bull riding, which pushed Triche further into the rodeo scene.

Triche added that the bull purchase paid off, helping propel some of Triche’s bull-riding clients into the PBR, a professional bull-riding organization.

Triche said it was then when his business, Rockin R Rodeo, began to get noticed in the community.

Triche, who serves as president of Midsouth Bulls and Barrells and president of the Lafourche Roping Club in Raceland for the past five years, has provided livestock to more than 25 shows a year for the last five years. The local company also holds five rodeos a year in the area.

Triche said the hardest part about putting on a rodeo is finding sponsors to help defray the costs of labor, including rodeo workers, medical personnel and police protection.

“Labor costs average about $5,000 per show I put on,” he said.

While Triche is a veteran of the rodeo and cattle business, it’s his experience he’s looking to pass on to younger generations by working with local 4-H groups. He said he offers members of these groups a chance to work the rodeos with him, giving them a first-hand look at how the livestock industry operates.

“We do donate some monies to the 4-H program so their students can take trips during the year and to help buy animals for the kids,” he said. “I really love kids and seeing what they have to go through each day just to get by, it feels real good to help them. I’m grateful for the opportunity to work with them because they’ve served to be an inspiration to me to work harder and be grateful for what I have.”

Triche said he plans to grow his cattle operations and rodeos, but admits with the cost of everything now a days, fuel and food, it gets tough.

“We want to do more of the same and then some,” he said. “Working with the cattle and now the bulls was, and is, a lot of responsibility and I now have a love for it that I can’t get away from. It’s more of a passion now to raise the best cattle and to raise the best rodeo bull possible.”

While Triche has spent one-third of his life either raising cattle or competing in rodeos, the Bayou Blue man said he only has one regret – pursuing a college education on a rodeo scholarship.

“If I would have gone, I may not be where I am today because I know I am satisfied with who I am and what I am at this point in time,” he said. “I feel truly blessed.”

Triche’s next show is July 5-6 in Loranger. Call Triche at 852-1457 or e-mail rockinrrodeo@bellsouth.net.

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